Happy retiree1

Hi Nancy,

 

Thanks for your lovely compliments. I love both our city and our Country and I am always happy to help visitors see the best that is on offer in the time they have available.

 

The Great Ocean Road is a must and is a wonderful drive especially on a lovely, sunny day. Also the day in the city is a must as there is so much to see and do here. On your third day, the Grampians are too far away for a day trip. I love the Grampians but they are a good 3 hour or so drive from Melbourne.

 

The penguins are also a fair drive - about 2 hours - for just an hour when they come out of the water and they only come at dusk so it would be late before you returned back to your hotel. The best way to see the penguins would be to stay a night on Phillip Island and not many visitors are able to spare that extra day. There are penguins down at St. Kilda here in Melbourne, so if you were really desperate, you could take a tram trip down there.

http://stkildapenguins.com.au/skp/?page_id=93

 

A trip to Ballarat on the train is a good idea. Ballarat has a wonderful Art Gallery and is also an interesting city to walk around. You could pop into the Craig's Royal Hotel and have a look around at this very old but wonderful hotel where we stayed for a night last August. It is full of history and Royalty has actually stayed there. http://craigsroyal.com.au/

Or you could take a tour, the freeway is very quick from the city to Ballarat and you would be there within an hour and a half. http://www.discoveraustralia.com.au/victoria_holidays_visiting/ballarat_tours/ http://www.viator.com/tours/Melbourne/Ballarat-and-Sovereign-Hill-Day-Tour-with-Optional-Wildlife-Park-from-Melbourne/d384-2230M3 Taking a tour would let you visit Sovereign Hill which is a bit out of Ballarat though on your own you could hire a taxi but you would need him to return to take you back to the train.

 

Alternatively, we have wonderful Puffing Billy and the Dandenongs, the Yarra Valley and Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary which is also a great day out. These are all a lot closer to Melbourne and are a great tourist attraction. http://www.daytours-victoria.com.au/Healesville%20%26%20Dandenongs.php

http://www.viator.com/tours/Melbourne/Puffing-Billy-Steam-Train-Yarra-Valley-and-Healesville-Wildlife-Sanctuary-Day-Tour/d384-2230M15

Our Dandenongs are beautiful with huge trees and big ferns and as they being so close to Melbourne, they are well worth visiting. These would be my choice for your third day. The Sanctuary is well known as a great place to see our native animals and is part of our wonderful zoos. http://www.zoo.org.au/healesville

 

If you thinking that as we will be visiting the Blue Mountains, why should we see the Dandenongs! They are so different in every way, that you cannot compare them. The Dandenongs are more like a part of England, whereas the Blue Mountains are very rugged.

 

I hope this has helped a little.

 

Jennie

Aussie Gal,

Thank you very much for your suggestions/insights and recos for tours. The Daytours-Victoria looks like the perfect tour company for us. Now we just need to find another couple who would like to go along to help defray the cost a bit. The Dandenongs looks like it would be a beautiful trip. We are not much into the touristy places with big crowds but we would love to see the countryside to get a feel for what AU is like outside the cities. Just to clarify, we are actually spending 3 days in Sydney so we'll be sightseeing there for 2 of our 3 days and taking the Blue Mt tour on our 3rd day. Both you & Rugbypopsie are so right, there is so much to see. That's what makes it difficult to decide when you have limited time. We are really looking forward to our trip.

Nancy:)

Aussie Gal,

I have been reading your posts and you are a wealth of information. Thank you so much. We will be spending 3 days in Melbourne in Dec 2013 and I'm having a hard time trying to decide what to see. Perhaps you can help. So far we are touring the GOR for a day, then one day in the city and not sure what to choose for the 3rd day: the Grampians, Penguin Parade tour or take the train by ourselves to Ballarat. We will also be in Sydney (after a 12 cruise AKL to SYD) for 3 days with 1 day in the Blue Mts. I've read good & bad reviews of the Penguin tour so I'm a little ambivalent about it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Nancy